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Best Of The Web For Windows Users - 9 - 15 August 2015

This week, we have learned new hidden details about the activation rules that are used for Windows 10 and that the free Office 365 offer for small, low-cost devices is being phased out with Windows 10. Also, Microsoft has released for free, the slimmed down version of Windows 10 for 'Internet of Things' devices. To learn more details about these events as well as other interesting news, read this week's recap:

The Best Tech Related News

These articles are this week's most important news in Microsoft's ecosystem:

Microsoft quietly rewrites its activation rules for Windows 10 - Windows activation is alive and well in Windows 10. Microsoft doesn't like to talk about the inner workings of its anti-piracy software, but it's clear from testing that Windows 10 included a major change in the way activation works. All the juicy details are shared by Ed Bott.

Windows 10 brings the end of free Office 365 for small, low-cost devices [Update] - Neowin says that Microsoft is phasing out the Office 365 offer across all Windows 10 devices, except its own Surface 3. Microsoft isn't pulling the offer with immediate effect, though; indeed, it will remain available for small tablets and ultra-affordable notebooks sold with Windows 8.1, but all those with Windows 10 pre-installed will no longer come with a free year of Office 365.

Hello, Windows 10 IoT Core - The slimmed down version of Windows 10 for 'Internet of Things' devices is now available for download along with developer tools with support for various maker boards such as the Raspberry Pi 2 and MinnowBoard Max. More details in the official announcement.

Popular Articles

All wireless routers have AC in their name, followed by a number. For example, you have routers that are called ASUS RT-AC88U AC3100, TP-LINK Archer C5400 AC5400, or Tenda AC9 AC1200. What does this AC3100, AC5400 or AC1200 mean? Does the number that comes after AC tell you how fast the router is? In theory, manufacturers say that it does. In reality, the truth is different. Here’s why this AC naming convention is marketing with zero value for consumers, what it truly communicates and how not to fool yourself into purchasing a “fast” router:

For reasons known only to Microsoft, they decided to remove the Guest account from Windows 10. As of July 2015, starting with build 10159, this feature is gone from Windows 10, without much of an explanation from Microsoft. Even though this feature is removed from Windows 10, you will find several websites promising multiple ways of enabling the Guest account in Windows 10. The trouble is that all these methods don’t work or they work but they create a standard local user account, instead of a real Guest account. Here’s why the most popular solutions on the web don’t work, what happens when you “enable” the Guest account in Windows 10 and how to clean up the problems you’ve generated for yourself when doing so:

A few years ago, we published a guide about unlinking your Skype ID from your Microsoft account. It was very popular with our readers, and it provided them with real help. However, as of early 2017, it stopped working because Microsoft has silently changed things, without an official blog post of any kind. Today, unlinking your Skype ID from your Microsoft account seems like Mission Impossible. However, we did some research, and we have help for you. Here it is:

We needed a new laptop for working while traveling, running virtual machines, testing many apps and Windows features. We are also gamers at heart, and we needed something with a bit of punch regarding video processing power. Not only that, but we also wanted a comfortable keyboard because we write a lot and a cooling system that’s quieter than on most gaming laptops. After carefully looking on the internet, we chose Lenovo Legion Y520. On paper, this gaming laptop met all our demands. After a few weeks of testing, playing on and working on it, here is our final review for the Lenovo Legion Y520:

If you own an Android smartphone or tablet that has started to misbehave, you might want to know what is wrong with it. Only after you check to see that it is not something you can resolve yourself, you send it to the repair shop or make use of its warranty. To test the health status of an Android device, you need to have at least one app that can test it. However, the Play Store has so many that you might not know which app to choose. To help you, we decided to check many of them ourselves and make a roundup of the best. Here is our list of the best Android apps for checking the health status of your device: